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domain names

Choosing The Right Domain Name for Your Online Business Is A Big Deal! Your Website is the Centre of Your Online Universe, so conjuring a great name for your site is essentially a marketing tactic. The following 9 Tips Can Help you Select An Effective Website Name For your Business.


1. Make Your Domain Name Your Website Name

It may sound like a strangely obvious tip, however it is surprising how many businesses don’t adhere to this. The reason you want to do this is because Search Engines look at ‘key words’ to find relevant results. If your URL (domain name) contains those key words then your site will be found more easily.

For example, if your website name/heading is ‘CARS 4 U’ then your repeat visitors will search for you by typing
in the key words: ‘CARS 4 U’. However if your domain name is secondhandvehicles.com then the search engines will not see your URL as containing the key words. On the other hand if your URL is cars4u.com then it will contain all of the keywords.

2. Make Your Domain Name Your Business Name

Again this may seem obvious, and follows a similar line of thinking as the first tip, however it is valuable to remember because it will help you to rank in the search engines and this means your repeat customers are more likely to find you. People remember your business name so whenever possible choose a domain name which matches your
trading name and choose a trading name which reflects your niche.

  • Your Business Name or Trading Name;
  • Your Website Name and
  • Your Domain Name

Should all be the same.

3. Use Natural Everyday Language

Use Everyday Language which the majority of readers can understand and spell.

The name ‘Number One Networker’ is easier to remember, understand and spell correctly than the name:

Numerically Singular and thus Metaphorically Premier Cohort of Business Associates

OR even n0.1.networker… which leaves the visitor straining to remember where the dots were and if was it N1 or No1 or Number1.

4. Keep it Short and Simple

Although some registration places allow 63-67 characters, keep in mind that shorter names will be easier to remember and  type correctly into a browser.

For example ‘Weekend Getaways’ — weekendgetaways.com is easier to remember and type than ‘Local Bed and Breakfast Retreats Online’ — localbedandbreakfastretreatsonline.com

Single words are great. eg: cats.com

Two or three short words together is also effective. PetCats.com or  yourpetcat.com

However short and simple does not mean an acronym. If your business is ‘South Eastern Wholesale Agricultural Products’ then sewap.com is not a suitable acronym to reflect the nature of your business.

The only time you should use an acronym for your domain name is when your business is already known by that acronym.

For example IBM.  Would you search for IBM’s website by typing in ‘International Business Machines Corporation’ or by typing in IBM?

5. dot what? .com .org .net .edu etc etc

When deciding on the suffix for your website keep in mind that .com is still largely recognised as the most common suffix for a business. My personal opinion is that if you can get a .com then take it.

If you choose a .net then people will still be more likely to search for the .com. If a competitor takes the dot com then you will lose a lot of traffic to them. In fact if you can’t get a name as a .com but it is available as a .net then personally I would still have reservations about taking the .net.

Depending on what country you live in you will also have the option of registering a country specific suffix. eg: .com.au for Australia or .co.uk for the United Kingdom.

These can often be more expensive than a dot.com however they are useful for parent companies that have national or regional subsidiaries. They are also useful if your focus is purely local.

6. When One Suffix Just Isn’t Enough

If you really want to have the monopoly on your business name then register as many of the common suffixes as are available.

If you have the .com then also grab the .net and the .org and the .info and any country specific suffix you think is  relevant.

There is a common belief that .org is reserved for Non Profit Organisations, however there is actually no restriction on this and many commercial ventures have registered a .org.

7. Hyphenated Names

Okay so you have your heart set on inyourhomehairdresser.com but it’s already taken. However in-your-home-hairdresser.com is available… do you take it?

The advantages of a hyphenated domain name are:

  • that search engines can pick out key words more
    easily.
  • If the non-hyphenated name is taken then at least
    you have an alternative

Disadvantages are:

  • Spelling mistakes will be more frequent.
  • If a friend mentions that they went to ‘In Your Home
    Haidresser.com’ they may easily forget to mention the hyphens

8. Using Key Words in Your Name

If you want to integrate key words into your domain name then you will want to do some key word research. There are  a number of free as well as pay for service key word research tools and sites available.

Free Tools:

http://sem.smallbusiness.yahoo.com/searchenginemarketing/

Paid Tools:

For paid tools we recommend Word Tracker. There are many other
services you can pay for however Word Tracker has a fabulous reputation
and is very well known

9. Checking Availability

Last but not least, you need to know how to find out if a name is available. The easiest way to do this is to go to whois.com. There is also whois.com.au and whois.co.uk etc etc

So that about wraps it up.

You’ve covered Choosing a Domain Name. You may also like to check out who we recommend for  web hosting .

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